How Investing in a Business Phones for your Start-up Could Increase Sales

Running a start-up, you’re likely to be faced with a common dilemma: how do you invest in what you need to grow your business whilst maintaining your budget and cash flow. There are so many tech solutions available that help to communicate with your customers and employees: email marketing, social media and web designs are just a few examples of the types of tech solutions that start-ups can choose to invest in. One of the most classic and simple solution to a variety of challenges is often overlooked. Is a business phone the answer to your organizational, marketing and customer-related issues across your organization?

When Business Phones Can Increase Sales:

Your Customer Service Is Slow

With many business phone packages comes a host of different features that can benefit your organization. These can include voicemail, faxing, automated greeting, touchtone menus, conference calling and call auditing and calling logs. How could these be useful to speed up your customer service and increase your sales?

These features help you out when you aren’t able to answer the phone.

If you were to look at your analytics, how often have you lost a potential customer from a successful lead?

It is often the case that, when growth catches up with us, our capacity just isn’t there, and we can’t please everyone. As a result, you turn customers away without even realizing.

So should I hire others to respond? Well, that’s a question that depends on the nature of your organization. Whilst it is an undisputed preference for customers to talk to a human being, rather than an automated machine or a switchboard, an automated system is better than nothing.

Customers are more likely to still consider you favorably compared to your competitors if, for example, when they call you and they can’t get in touch, if your automated message tells them exactly why you are away and when to find you again. Perhaps you can direct them to your email address or your website?

Nevertheless, a thoughtful and apologetic response is more likely to be well-received over a generic voicemail from your personal phone or, even worse, a dead-end. They may even doubt if your company is legitimate or even still exists.

That’s not the impression any business owner wants to give.

Too Much of Your Time is Spent on Customer Service

OK, so you are aware of all the pitfalls of not being up to scratch with your customer service. That’s why you’re working twenty-four hours a day to respond to your customers.

But do you find that your preoccupation with customer service jeopardizes other areas of your business, and therefore, stinting future growth?

Your business needs you to help it develop, and whilst you are securing those immediate sales, the lack of quality in your products may be sending potential repeat buyers away, or you may be missing opportunities to increase your leads, and generate more sales.

You need to free up that time. You can do this by automating a lot of your communication and using the features on your business phones. If you find yourself repeating bits of information that tend to be relevant to most of your customers, such as seeking information, then it’s worth seeing how you can give this only once to benefit many. An automated message can help with this.

You also have the option of seeking help by others at this point. By using a switchboard, you can find out before you talk to the customer why they are getting in touch, and so, you can quickly direct them straight to someone in your team who you know can help them.

When You Have a Variety of Products or Services

Do you offer a variety of products or services? If you have a broad range of expertise in your team, there is an advantage for sales if you can get those experts on the phone.

By using the switchboard system, you can direct your potential or existing customer to the most appropriate person in real-time.

Have you ever been in touch with a customer who needs to speak to another member of your team? You consequently either provide them with the number of the individual they are seeking or you email your colleague to give them a call. The trouble is that this is has now become a significant effort for your customer and is taking up their time. In the best case scenario, they may be a bit disgruntled. At worst, you could lose the potential customer as soon as you put the phone down, as it just becomes simply too much effort, and bear in mind; they are shopping around the competition.

Catch them whilst you can, make sure your communication is simple, effective and time-efficient. A business phone may just be the stepping stone you need to take your business to the next height.

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